Breaking: Incredible Shatterstar News!
 |
Oh, not really. Marvel just “outed” Shatterstar — who I know nothing about other than he’s a mutant with swords and a glowy eye — and Rictor — who I’ve never even heard of. They’re gay now. I have no problem with this, but I can’t help but notice the difference in-between Marvel’s characters with alternative lifestyles and their Distinguished Competition’s. I mean, Shatterstar and Rictor aren’t exactly high-profile superheroes; meanwhile, a lesbian is starring in DC’s most venerable comic, Detective Comics, as Batwoman, Plus, The Question is a lesbian now, too, right? Seems like DC is a tad more progressive in that respect.
Yes, I know Marvel also has gay characters in Runaways and Young Avengers (young people are more susceptible to catching “teh gay”) and Northstar, but none of those are top-tier characters either, and I also think he’s dead. I’m just saying DC seems to be allowing homosexual characters a higher profile. Although all of DC’s gay characters seems to be hot lesbians. Maybe everyone’s terrible and I shouldn’t have brought it up. (Via Robot6)
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.